Tennessee vs texas (Memphis: real estate, apartment, rental)

[KRMAC7]

Hey everyone! Need opinions. I am. 26 year old single, registered nurse. I am from PA but currently living in San Diego while I’m in the military(will be getting out in 16 months). I do not want to stay in San Diego and I don’t want to move back home to PA. Two places I’ve always wanted to live is Texas and Tennessee. I am very active/outdoorsy. I ride horses and barrel race and because of this I’ve always been drawn to Texas. I also have family in Dallas. I want to live on land away from the city but close enough where to commute to work isn’t terrible. I love Tennessee and Nashville and it being closer to home is a plus. I’ve found that homes in Texas are affordable and nursing pay is great! I’ve read some things that nursing isn’t so great in TN and the pay isn’t great either. I’m torn! Anything and everything helps.

[AppalachianAngler]

This is going to be more of a personal decision, but the pay will likely be better in Texas with a similar cost of living. At least in East TN, the nursing pay is lacking, although the outdoorsy options are abundant. Memphis has much better nursing pay, but is not everyone's cup of tea and does not have much traditional outdoorsy things, but there are a decent amount of horse farms in the West TN area.

[Normashirley]

Well, lolol - trying time compare Texas to Tennessee is the same as comparing apples to oranges, lol

First and most important. —thank you very much for your service!!. It will be great to see you permanently on home soil:’

Texas and Tennessee have very different climates. Texas is more dry and arid while all of Tennessee is humid with high dew points, to varying degrees. It’s a nice day if the dew point is “only” 68, lollol

Here’s the link to the NBHA in Tennessee that be be of some help in the barrel racing department.

https://nbha.com/state/tennessee

I am now retired and old injuries stop me from riding but I was a life long, die hard trail rider — my preference was always seeing where the rabbit trail went, as opposed to groomed trails in a metro park, lol

The Cumberland Plateau has a lot of great trail riding and we have some decent public trails in Middle Tennessee.

I know there is some barrel racing in Middle Tennessee but I can’t say to what degree. Not only am I a trail rider, I ride Tennessee Walkers who don’t excel at barrel racing, lollol

Far as nursing and pay - the only help I can offer is to say we have had quite a few rural hospitals close in recent years, which in turn, puts those nurses out of jobs and looking for work.

Hopefully others will come in with better information.

Also, I belong to an international horse forum, Based in the U.S. we have a LOT of Texas folks on there, a lot of folks in the medical profession, and there are some die hard barrelracers on there. I can PM you the link, so CD doesn’t think I’m trying to prospect for a forum that is mostly about horse ownership/care

The forum is free and may give some more perspective on the horse angle of your quest- which are you bringing a horse(s) with you or buying after you get settled?

Lastly, which side of PA? The first 50 years of my life were on the OH/PA border, and a lot of that in the rural of the Shenango Valley

[mattec]

I posted this in your thread on the Dallas subforum, but will share here as well:

It would be highly unlikely to find acreage suitable for horses within a reasonable distance (45-60 min or less at rush hour) to Nashville's major hospitals in a nurse's budget. I would not expect to find anything like that for less than $500,000+. Additionally, the average 1br apartment rental has pushed close to $1,500 in Nashville proper and around $1,200 in the burbs. Nashville area real estate prices have shot through the roof in recent years, and pay has not kept up. The average salary for RNs in Nashville is around $58,000 ($27.90/h).

Memphis & eastern/northern Shelby County would offer a better bang for your buck in terms of real estate prices, and the pay for nurses is a bit higher, with St. Jude generally offering the highest pay in the state. The average salary for RNs in Memphis is around $61,600 ($29.20/h).

[NoClueWho]

Originally Posted by mattec

I posted this in your thread on the Dallas subforum, but will share here as well:

It would be highly unlikely to find acreage suitable for horses within a reasonable distance (45-60 min or less at rush hour) to Nashville's major hospitals in a nurse's budget. I would not expect to find anything like that for less than $500,000+. Additionally, the average 1br apartment rental has pushed close to $1,500 in Nashville proper and around $1,200 in the burbs. Nashville area real estate prices have shot through the roof in recent years, and pay has not kept up. The average salary for RNs in Nashville is around $58,000 ($27.90/h).

Memphis & eastern/northern Shelby County would offer a better bang for your buck in terms of real estate prices, and the pay for nurses is a bit higher, with St. Jude generally offering the highest pay in the state. The average salary for RNs in Memphis is around $61,600 ($29.20/h).

That's ridiculous. Nashville is as expensive as DFW, but with half the amenities and with way less pros to outweigh its cons...

[dc1538]

Originally Posted by Julio July

That's ridiculous. Nashville is as expensive as DFW, but with half the amenities and with way less pros to outweigh its cons...

Texas seems to pay the highest wage for nurses between the two states. I know someone who's a nurse and moved back Memphis and took a $10k paycut. On the other hand, while Nashville is a more appealing city, it seems to pay lower in the medical field than Memphis. A relative of mine was offered a salary of almost 40% less in Nashville compared to Memphis in one of the higher paying medical positions. Apparently there is a saturation of students graduating from the colleges in the Nashville area putting a downward pressure on the wages. Also the fact that it's one of the 'hot cities' to move they have people lined up ready to take those jobs just to get into Nashville. Add to the fact that Nashville's rental and housing market is significantly higher than Memphis, it may not be the best option to choose, if deciding between Texas and Tennessee.

[KRMAC7]

Originally Posted by Normashirley

Well, lolol - trying time compare Texas to Tennessee is the same as comparing apples to oranges, lol

First and most important. —thank you very much for your service!!. It will be great to see you permanently on home soil:’

Texas and Tennessee have very different climates. Texas is more dry and arid while all of Tennessee is humid with high dew points, to varying degrees. It’s a nice day if the dew point is “only” 68, lollol

Here’s the link to the NBHA in Tennessee that be be of some help in the barrel racing department.

https://nbha.com/state/tennessee

I am now retired and old injuries stop me from riding but I was a life long, die hard trail rider — my preference was always seeing where the rabbit trail went, as opposed to groomed trails in a metro park, lol

The Cumberland Plateau has a lot of great trail riding and we have some decent public trails in Middle Tennessee.

I know there is some barrel racing in Middle Tennessee but I can’t say to what degree. Not only am I a trail rider, I ride Tennessee Walkers who don’t excel at barrel racing, lollol

Far as nursing and pay - the only help I can offer is to say we have had quite a few rural hospitals close in recent years, which in turn, puts those nurses out of jobs and looking for work.

Hopefully others will come in with better information.

Also, I belong to an international horse forum, Based in the U.S. we have a LOT of Texas folks on there, a lot of folks in the medical profession, and there are some die hard barrelracers on there. I can PM you the link, so CD doesn’t think I’m trying to prospect for a forum that is mostly about horse ownership/care

The forum is free and may give some more perspective on the horse angle of your quest- which are you bringing a horse(s) with you or buying after you get settled?

Lastly, which side of PA? The first 50 years of my life were on the OH/PA border, and a lot of that in the rural of the Shenango Valley

Thanks for your info! And I’ll be buying horses once I’m settled. I’d love if you direct messaged me that forum link as well! And I’m from Pittsburgh! A small town about 20-30 mins from the actual city

[Normashirley]

Originally Posted by KRMAC7

Thanks for your info! And I’ll be buying horses once I’m settled. I’d love if you direct messaged me that forum link as well! And I’m from Pittsburgh! A small town about 20-30 mins from the actual city

I sent you a PM

If you were East or NE, our towns were less than an hour apart

My favorite place to spend money was the old Amish tack shop in New Wilmington the original man who opened that shop was a pretty good and fair horseman; he gave me a lot of great tips.

[KRMAC7]

Originally Posted by Normashirley

I sent you a PM

If you were East or NE, our towns were less than an hour apart

My favorite place to spend money was the old Amish tack shop in New Wilmington the original man who opened that shop was a pretty good and fair horseman; he gave me a lot of great tips.

That’s awesome! My sister goes to school at Westminster so we are up there a lot! So pretty!

[Canine*Castle]

Originally Posted by Normashirley

Texas and Tennessee have very different climates. Texas is more dry and arid while all of Tennessee is humid with high dew points, to varying degrees. It’s a nice day if the dew point is “only” 68, lollol

Dry and arid in Texas? Yes, true for some parts but definitely not all. I live in central Texas and it's miserably humid most of the summer, very often with temperatures in the 100s and 'feel like' temperatures up to 115 due to the humidity, like a 75 dew point as bad as Saudi. Here are today's dew points in the state and just because of Laura, don't let that matter.
It's a very humid state.